The California Supreme Court refused to review the first-degree murder conviction of a former airport baggage handler who hurled his 4-year-old daughter off a 120-foot cliff in Rancho Palos Verdes more than 17 years ago.
Cameron John Brown, 56, who is serving a life prison term without the possibility of parole, exhausted his state appeals for the Nov. 8, 2000, death of his daughter, Lauren Sarene Key, but could move to the federal system for future attempts to regain his freedom.
“It’s inevitable they go to the federal system,” said Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum, who prosecuted the case. Hum added that Brown “is less likely to get any traction in the federal system.”
Prosecutors argued Brown killed his daughter during a walk along the cliff’s edge at Inspiration Point to avoid monthly $1,000 child support payments to Lauren’s mother, Sarah Key-Marer. It took three trials and 15 years to convict him. Juries in Brown’s first two trials deadlocked over the magnitude of his guilt.
In an October ruling,
a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal turned down the defense’s contention that Brown’s May 2015 conviction should be reversed.
In a 94-page ruling, the court ruled there was “significant evidence against Brown, notably his own statements expressing his desire to ‘get rid of” Lauren, his decision to take Lauren to a dangerous outdoor area, and his callous and indifferent attitude after Lauren’s death.”.
The justices rejected Brown’s attorneys’ contentions that Brown’s third trial for first-degree murder — in which he was convicted — was barred by the prohibition against double-jeopardy because of the jury’s split in his second trial in 2009, in which six jurors voted in favor of convicting Brown of second-degree murder while the other six favored involuntary manslaughter.
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